ENGLISH
REFERENCE

vixen

n.
C1 Advanced US //ˈvɪksɪn// UK //vˈɪksən// vix·en Informal

n. a female fox. It is also a slightly rude word for a woman who is very attractive or flirtatious.

n. a female fox. In a figurative or slang sense, it refers to a woman perceived as sexually attractive or flirtatious.


SIMPLE

The vixen led her cubs across the field.

CONTEXTUAL

The hikers spotted a vixen watching them from the edge of the woods.

Synonyms
Origin

Alteration of earlier fixen, from Middle English fixen, from Old English fyxen (compare also Old English fyxe (“female fox”)), from Proto-West Germanic fuhsini, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsinī; the voiced v- comes from the Southern dialectal forms of Middle English. Alternatively, from the Old English adjective fyxen (“of the fox”), as in the phrase fixen hȳd (“fox skin”; compare Middle English foxen fox).

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